How to treat grubs

I spoke a couple days ago about grubs and grub damage. After reading that, and you determine you actually have a grub problem (not just a few grubs), then it is time to do something about it. But what?

For the environmentalists amongst us, I will mention Milky Spore and
beneficial nematodes. Both are bio-controls of grubs. Neither should be used when a grub problem is present, because they won’t work to do much for your current grub problem.
If you are of the belief that you, under any circumstance, your customer will never allow use of an insecticide on a lawn insect problem, then maybe you could give it try. But only before the grub problem pops up. That’s when to use it.
They can be expensive and tedious to apply to the lawn, but you may get some benefit from it.

After saying all that, its time to take care of your grubs. If you have an existing grub problem, the best product in most situations is DYLOX 6.2 G. It’s sold in different forms, but most likely in a granular material in a 30 lb bag. For most grubs, it requires about 3#s per 1000 sq ft. always read your label and follow the correct label rate fro your situation. More is never better, and often times in Lawn care, it can even worsen a situation.

Once applied to the lawn, it must be watered in pretty well before too long. You do not want to let Dylox sit out in the sunlight because the sun will begin breakdown the active ingredient, thus making it less effective. You bought the product, and you should get the most out of it.
You also need to get it where the grubs are and that is in the soil, not on top of the lawn.

Late summer and early fall is when you will see new grub activity. You will want to treat the grub problem as early as possible because you don’t want to do it in spring time when they will be much harder to control as they mature.

After watering it in, the Dylox will be ingested by the grubs, and they will stop feeding immediately on the roots. They will not however just disappear. They stop doing the damage, but can take a while to fully die and decompose. You will see grubs in the area still or even animal damage from hungry skunks.
This doesn’t mean it isn’t working. It most likely is, but you can’t control the skunks and raccoons from digging around and eating the dying grubs. If damage has occurred you may renovate and seed the area.
There are other products labeled for grubs like Sevin, Grub-X, merit, Mach2 and so forth. Merit (imidocloprid) and mach 2 are prevention products, and are not effective on existing grubs.

Sevin is another broad spectrum insecticide that is labeled for grubs. I prefer Dylox, because SEVIN needs heavy irrigation or else it gets hung up in the thatch layer and never gets to the grubs. Sevin also can harm earthworms and other beneficial organisms. Dylox doesn’t exhibit these same characteristics and moves throughout the soil fast. Dylox doesn’t have much residual; it only treats what is active.

One BIG pet peeve of mine is retail stores and GRUB-X. Not either one really, but the marketing that is employed. Homeowner’s walk into a garden center or big box retailer looking for something to control the grubs eating the lawn. Right out in front of the aisle is a BIG display of shiny black and red bags with a picture of a grub on it. It says GRUB-X, it’s made by SCOTTS, and so it must be good. They spend 25 bucks for the 5000 sq ft bag, apply it and what happens? Nothing most likely. Why? Because Grub-X is a prevention product and needs to be applied at a certain time before the grubs are eating your lawn. Simply put, Scotts and retailers are putting one over on you as a homeowner. The product itself as a prevention (imidocloprid or Merit) is a great product, but only when used properly. Treating your hungry grubs is not using it properly.
For a homeowner this can mean.

1. Waste of time
2. Waste of money
3. Grubs keep creating more damage
4. Homeowner get frustrated
5. Homeowner buys more Grub control, and seed to repair the area

Lots of waste in there!